DIY Dinosaur theme Garden in Recycled Tyre

Do you have an old tire floating around? Tires can be re-purposed for so many things. We have one stuck in the ground to climb all over and another was recently turned into a dinosaur garden. 

We have been expanding our outdoor area, near by we have a cool Water Wall out of PVC Pipe, & of course our Magnificent Mud Kitchen that we are in the process of renovating (stay tuned for that), then we have some Outdoor Balance Stumps. Now for the DIY tire Garden, its cute, little and practical for any size yard and you could really do it in any theme...  Fairies, gnomes, bugs, farm animals to give you a few ideas!

To make this outdoor play space all I did was put the tire into position, spray paint it fluro bright yellow, fill with soil and then Dimples helped create a Dinosaur garden for play and to create a fun feel to his outdoor play space. First we started talking about what we need to do to keep the plants growing, how to look after them and then the discussion lead to herbivores & dinosaurs, their habitat and environment, what they eat/drink and so on which fueled his pretend play. 

We added a couple of soft succulents that are cheap and tolerable to harsh conditions. Then a curved piece of drift wood fit perfectly around the center of the tire, from there on Dimples added stones and shells. The dinosaurs needed a drink or a pool so we planted an old bowl filled it with water and then the finishing touches were of course the dinosaurs. After playing for a while Dimples added a small stick for a bridge and some lucky stones. It makes a cute addition to the outdoor play are and encourages outside physical and imaginative play

Learning Concepts:
Recycle & Reuse
Planting and keeping plants
Physical/Active Play
Connecting with the outdoors
Imaginative & Pretend play
Dinosaur Habitats & environments

Follow on:
DIY baked Dinosaur fossils
Dig for dinosaurs near by
Dinosaur Paint Stomping

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How do you get the kids to be enthusiastic about Outdoor Play?

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Happy Adventures

Outdoor PVC Pipe Water Wall

In Australia it is extremely hot with sweaty Summer days, we live on the coast so we are lucky that we get an ocean breeze but other parts of Australia aren't so lucky this time of year. Its been that hot lately that Dimples hasn't even wanted to go outdoors to play. I don't blame him! 

But after re-vamping Dimples Play area, Renovating his cubby house & his water wall we are back outside playing under the trees in the shad with some good old water play. 

Here is our new Water wall that is still off the side of his Mud kitchen. 

The Outdoor Water wall is easy to make if you're a little handy or have a handy man, even if you don't I am sure you can pull it off. All you need is a sheet of ply wood structured up, some PVC pipes, preferably the same width so the water flows easily & directly in the center of the next one, a drill and screws. 

I have spray painted the wood surface blue and I asked Adventures Dad if he could cut the PVC pipes in half length ways on his bench Saw with some different lengths and angles then I sprayed them yellow. 

That is the easy part. Putting it all together takes a little more patience and a great little helper with a bottle of water. 

I used a drill to attache the pipes on to the wall. First I held them in place as Dimples, the willing helper, stood by with a bottle of water to "test" the water wall placing. This is a crucial part.... If you just screw the pipes in any old way it wont flow smoothly so we tested the water flow before screwing them on. 

If they are too close the water splats and splashes out, mean less makes it to the bottom of the water wall, if they are too far away you might miss the mark entirely, also the water speed depends on the angle of your pipe. Dimples enjoyed testing the way the water flowed and helping get it just right.

Then is was time to use it and see which tunnels worked best and how much water made it down to the bottom. Dimples was narrating play and making inferences about which way the water will flow if he poured it down a certain pipe. It was a fun way to cool down and the good thing about doing a PVC water wall is that the pipes are wide enough for marbles and can double as a ball run. 

Hope you like it.

Dimples sure does and Miss Cherub does too. She sits at the bottom waiting for the water to come rolling down, wont be long until she is trying to pour the water as well.

Learning Experiences:

Involvement in the Design & construction of the Water wall

Scientific investigation

Open ended Play

Outdoor Play

Hand eye coordination (lift, Pour, control, move)

Concept of gravity

Peaceful and calming water play that increases focus 

Tactile and sensory learning

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How do you get the kids to cool down on a Hot Summer Day?

I love reading your comments 

Happy Adventures

Baby Safe yummy Painting With Yogurt

Baby Painting! Of course that will be messy right? But is it safe to expose babies to paint, after all most of it will end up in their mouth, all over their face and in their skin. 

Well even though there are many of alternatives like making your own paints using natural safe ingredients or non-toxic "safe" varieties many parents just won't go there. 

So here is an easy, not so messy way to introduce baby to colours, textures and paint play while they learn some hands on skills needed to self-feed.

I used a children yogurt that was baby safe and mixed it into 3 different containers, using one drop of natural food colouring I mixed a yellow, pink and blue shade of yogurt. I gave the containers to Miss Cherub when she was on her high chair so she could explore them safely on her table. It was a bit of an experiment and i wasn't sure how she would react but she loved it and it was easy to clean up and wash off after.

I left the spoons in the containers so she could get some practice using and handling the spoons. She is at the age now she is interested in self-feeding but needs to further develop her gross motor skills and hand/eye coordination in order to succeed. So she did enjoy some colourful yogurt but the majority of it was paint.



The splatters and drops she tipped out of the container on to her tray were poked out and smeared in every fashion possible. She explored the squishy texture between her fingers and payed close attention to the colours after she mixed them around with her hand.
It was a yummy bright Baby painting expedition.

Miss Cherub enjoyed herself tactfully experimenting with the containers; handling them, tipping and turning them to see the yogurt drop out, putting the spoon in to scoop it out and eating some, while some she flung and splattered on the tray. She used her fingers to scoop some out, and them in different ways she run her fingers through the different colours, some times with her pointer finger, sometimes trying to grab it in a pincer grip but mostly she rushed her palms through it smearing it together. 

Clean up was simple; wash the tray & containers in the sink, wipe the baby clean. done! 

Learning concepts:
First Colours & Colour mixing
Exploring Textures
Sensory Play
Confidence with food
Bilateral coordination
Hand/eye coordination
Self feeding skills
Developing pincer grip and handling containers
Gross Motor Skills

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